WEEK IN REVIEW

PUBLIC SAFETY

Two OCC students got a rude surprise when three robbers burst into their apartment early Monday to steal computers, an iPod, clothes and cash.

The students, who live in the Camden complex in the 2800 block of Pinecreek Drive, said the robbers knocked on their door before busting in about midnight.

The crooks tied them and rifled through the place on the prowl for valuables.

The victims could not provide a detailed description of their attackers because they masked themselves with bandannas, dark clothes and hooded sweaters.

One of the robbers punched the student who answered the door in the mouth with the handle of his gun. The pair was then threatened with knives and the gun before being bound with jumper cables, the students said.

Their attackers would have made off with more if the college students’ friends had not shown up to visit, the victims said.

After hearing the knock on the door, the robbers bolted to the back patio of the third-floor apartment, threw the bags of stolen goods over the railing and climbed down some nearby trees, the students said.

 Costa Mesa Police and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District pooled their efforts and resources for the first “Keep Your Teen Safe” program in the city Tuesday night on the campus of Costa Mesa High School.

Gang Unit officers fielded numerous questions from parents worried about their kids and gangs. The officers offered tips to parents to identify if their kids are getting sucked into gangs.

The officers also reported that gang crimes have gone down since last year. They attributed that to officers specially detailed to school campuses. Their job is to mentor the kids and help them before they get hooked into a gang lifestyle.

 EDUCATION

Hillel Foundation of Orange County acknowledged that the organization has suspended its investigation of anti-Semitism complaints at UC Irvine.

But the chairman of the task force Hillel assembled to lead the investigation said the review will continue without Hillel’s support.

The investigation began after numerous complaints about controversial speakers and protests.

UC Irvine officials, meanwhile, also acknowledged that they will stop supporting the practice of letting student organizations prohibit recordings of their gatherings on campus.

 Astronaut and former UCI researcher Tracy Caldwell enthralled her audience Wednesday when she touched down on the university’s campus Wednesday to talk about her intergalactic adventure.

Caldwell talked about her 18 months of training and ambitious schedule while in space, which included adding a new platform and gyroscope to the International Space Station.

The astronauts on the mission also carried home 4,000 pounds of obsolete equipment.

 Costa Mesa High School students took a field trip to Little Corona Beach Wednesday to learn about the fragile waterfront ecosystem.

Sponsored by Orange County Coastkeeper, the trip is one of a series Costa Mesa teens will take this year to raise awareness about preserving costal environments.

Students measured levels of pollutants in the water of Buck Gully Wednesday, which empties into the Pacific from a residential neighborhood overlooking the beach. The measurements revealed higher-than normal levels of phosphate, a chemical found in many fertilizers that can cause algae growth in the water.

 COSTA MESA

Boulders were installed last week at Paularino Park to prevent active sports, after residents complained to the council about soccer players kicking balls against their houses and endangering people trying to enjoy the park quietly.

The project will be completed when about 30 trees are planted at the park Oct. 27.

Some Mesa North Community Assn. residents said the park is too small for active team sports, and the City Council agreed in July, voting to ban active sports there.

Signs announcing the prohibition went up in September.

 POLITICS

Huntington Beach Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and 45 other members of Congress last week sent a letter to retired Judge Michael Mukasey, the attorney general nominee, asking him to reopen the cases of two jailed Border Patrol agents if he is confirmed by the Senate.

Rohrabacher has said the agents, who were convicted and are serving prison time for not following procedures in a shooting that wounded a Mexican drug smuggler.

The agents are being kept in solitary confinement and treated worse than prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Rohrabacher said.

If Mukasey refuses to reexamine the cases, he shouldn’t be attorney general, the congressman said.

 BUSINESS

Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce members and others in the community got sad news last week, as longtime member Art Gronsky fell into a coma while on vacation in Alaska.

Gronsky, a former Citizen of the Year whose family owned the Balboa Pavilion from 1947 to 1960, was hospitalized in Anchorage Monday and remained unconscious for days afterward, according to a friend who had been in contact with Gronsky’s traveling companion.

NEWPORT BEACH

Joey Bishop, the last surviving member of the Rat Pack and longtime Newport Beach resident, died of natural causes Wednesday evening at his home on Lido Isle.

He was 89.

Bishop made an entire generation of Americans laugh along with fellow Rat Packers Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford.

Friends and neighbors remembered Bishop as a generous man with a sharp wit and strong principles.

Up until the last year of his life, Bishop could be spotted regularly walking up and down his street to exercise.

He also was a longtime member of the Balboa Bay Club.